Office Hours

Please note that all of our offices will close at 1 p.m. local time on Friday, May 24, 2019, and will remain closed until Tuesday, May 28, 2019, in observance of the Memorial Day holiday. If you have any special service needs that must be accomplished by Friday, May 24, please let us know so that we may service those needs as a high priority for you.

A dispute arose between the insurer and the insured as to whether the policy language providing for the replacement of damaged property with property of comparable material and quality required the replacement of undamaged siding in order to provide a color match. This case is Cedar Bluff Townhome Condominium Ass'n v. American Family Mut. Ins. Co. No. A13-0124, 2014 WL 7156914 (Minn. Dec. 17, 2014).

When a condo owner makes improvements to the condo, for example new kitchen cabinets, and later sells the condo, are the cabinets still betterments and improvements for the new owner who purchases the condo?

ANSWER: The condo policy does not define "improvements and betterments." The policy provides coverage for betterments and alterations. While the new owner did not make the alterations, they are still alterations all the same. Also, the state statutes determine whether the unit owner or the condo association is responsible for appliances and cabinets. In our opinion the alterations still count as alterations under the new owner and should be insured as such.

On April 15, 2014, the Eastern District of Pennsylvania issued a decision in Barker v. Hostetter et al. that reinforced the need for real estate developers to disclose all relevant property conditions to potential buyers in order to prevent later potential liability for fraud and/or withholding material information.

SAN JOSE -- With a fancy name like "California Hawaiian Mobile Estates," the trailer park on Snell Avenue should have been top-notch.

But residents say that for years it was anything but -- marred by sewage backups, potholes, electrical blackouts and a swimming pool filled with geese feces. Fed up with having their complaints ignored, a small group sued five years ago, risking the possibility that if they lost, they'd be on the hook for the park owner's substantial legal fees.